Advertising sign



Jug-'Y w, 11923.

J. L. RAY

ADVERTISING vSIGN Filed May 25 \the surface of which carries a poster or isv Patented July 10, nni'rso STATI-:s

I'OSEPH L. B'A'Y, OF SOUTH @RANGE NEW nnvnarisrne sieri.

application mea my as, ieee. senti no. etnica To all whom it mayconcern:

Be it lrnown that I, Josnrn L. RAY, a citizen of the United States,'residing in the town 'of South Orange, in the State of New Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Advertising Signs, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing, forming] a part hereof. I

Advertising signs, as developed to date are generally of one of twotypes. The most usual type, of course, is the billboard,

painted. More recent developments in advertisi signs /have led to theelectric sign which is made up of many bulbs, usually adapted to vbeashed on or off selectivelA to attract theeye of the observer. Bot

of these usual types of signs are permanent inthe sense that the postedor painted mattei', puton at great expense, is intended to remain inplace `until entirely and permal 4iiently obliterated and new matterapplied to the board by a ysign poster or painter. The electric signA isalsoof a permanent character in the sense that -the'electricconnections'andcontrols for the various bulbs areso coordinated as tocarry the desired messagel and when once so co-ordinated, carry therepeated message until a complete ment lof connections and controls isestab ished by a skilled electrician. The billboard system ofadvertising is open to the objection of initial expense with nolatitudefor change until such expense is duplicated by a posting orpainting of new matten lit is open to the further objection that, beingstationary, it does'not catch the eyeoi the casual observer as do theanimated or moving siis. Again, the message carried is limited y th byreason of the skill required in properly installing and eonnectingtheelectrical units proper co-ordinatio'n to the controller,

and to the further objection that when once so wired up, they areintended` to remain of a permanent character repeat' messageindefinitely until a furt er great expense is gone to in `entirely chanvg the vii'istallation accordin to the new a vertise-y ment to be resenteAgain, electric signs have this advantage as compared toa billboardeign, that they will' not catch the e available space and the necessarysize of the lettering.

the same -rying other advertising matter.

,Ject is to provide a si eye in daylight since the advertising matter 1sintended to be entirely delineated by illuminated bulbs.

`'llhe present invention has for its principal object to provide inpractical form an advertising sign which shall have embodied therein allof the advantages of billboard and electric signs without having an ofthe limitations thereof. A further object is to provide an advertisingsign which shall be made u of a series ot movable units which can ereadily mound ina permanv ent trame constructed to receive them andreadily removed from that' frame for the purpose of replacement by otherunits car- A new method of changing advertising s i is provided for inaccordance with the 1nven. tion in that a permanent frame with all ci?the actuating elements may be erected at a desired point and amulti-tace sign provided therein by the insertion oi the severalcomponent pri'smatic units, By the rotation of these units three solidraced display boards may be created. rlhe method goes further andprovides tor advertising service in the changing ot the advertisingmatter in any 'ven frame by the ready removal and rep acement of one setOfcomponent units` by another set. A further vob-K of the characterdescribed which shall include a plurality of units movable in. anydesired sequence to build up or to move2 before the eye, theadvertisement to bef-displayed. Still another object is to associatewith such sign a prime mover adaptedv to be connected operatively attime intervals' with the component units of the sign and ,inpredetermined re- @5 igure 2 isa view in vertical section throughthesign shownin Fi rel,- talren alon 'the plane indicated by t e line 2 2.,and ooking Vin the direction ci the arrows.

Figure 3 is a-'detail Vview in 'erspettive of one ot the-com onent unitaoi? t e sign..

Figure t is' a ragmentary detailv view or a series of a vertis y ice theadjustable interrupted driving gear for the component units.

In the preferred embodiment it is proposed to erect, at any point whereanuadvertising sign is desired, a permanent frame indicated at a,supported on suitable standards b and preferably carrying at suitablepoints illuminating devices c of any approved character. In thesupporting standards b for the frame, or in any other desired relationthereto, is supported a rotatable shaft d on which may be keyed a seriesof gear wheels e on each of which is bolted a gear segment f. Thesegmentv f may be carried by a bolt f adapted to be moved adjustably ina segmental slot e cut in each of the wheels e. The shaft d is gearedoperatively to a. prime mover g by which rotation is imparted to eachlof the gear wheels e.

ln one of the rail members of the frame a (in the illustrated embodimentthe lower rail a) there are journaled a plurality of stub shafts h, thelower ends of each of which-have keyed thereon bevel pinions h. Theupper ends of each ofv the shafts h extends above the upper edge of therail member a and is of irregular cross-sectional form as indicated insection in Figure 3.

ln the proposed sign it is contemplated, according to the illustratedembodiment. to set up all of the parts thus far described insubstantially the relationship pointed out and then mount removablyWithin the frame a plurality of revoluble prismatoidal sections z' onthe three faces of each of whichwill be displayed a portion of theadvertisements. The invention is not to be limited to the particularconstruction of such section, but as shown in Figures 2 and-3 it will beconvenient to form in one end thereof a recess z" to receive the upperend of the stub shaft h, this recess being of the same irregularcross-sectional form as the shaft so as to bring the section z' intodriving relation thereto when the shaft is Within the recess. The otherend of the' section z' may carry thereon a trunnion i2 which may passcarrying out 'the inventive thought.

through a bearing piece a2 carried with the frame a when the section ismounted within the frame.

The description thus far given has been of the illustrated form only andhas been made with some brevity, but it is to be understood that theinvention is in no sense limited to the particular construction and'relation of the parts described. A description of the character of thesign when in use will serve to emphasize the degree of latitude possiblein the construction of the elements without losing the effects to beproduced by It is proposed that a series of sections i of prismatic formandl preferably of convenient size for shipping and handling, will bepainted or posted on their three faces with such matter as will carrythe desired message when the proper faces of such a group of sectionsare exposed to view. `Such a group of sections will be mounted in aframe. such as a, by passing each of the trunnions 2 through the bearingpiece a2 and then dropping the recess z" of each section on to thecorresponding stub shaft h providedfor it. When'a co-related group arethus brought together it is proposed that their exposed faces will liein the same plane and the matter thereon will bring to view" Thesections are so one complete message. mounted on the shafts t that whenthe exposed faces are in this relation the edges of the sections will bein close proximity so as to give the appearance of a'n unbrokenbillboard. With the parts in this relation the segmental rack f of eachof the wheels e will be adjusted angularly on the wheel so as to engagethe corresponding bevel pinion k' on the corresponding stub shaft h atthe desired instant upon rotation of the shaft d and thereby rotate theengaged pinion L to the desired extent and revolve 'its section z'through a predetermined number of degrees, a movement of 120o serving tobring another face of the section into display position. lf desired, theracks f maybe so adjusted on all of the wheels e ask to rotate all ofthe sections simultaneously, therebybringing new faces of the sectionsinto display position simultaneously and changing the display sign. fromonemessage to another. On the other hand, if desired7 the racks f on thedifferent wheels e may be adjusted so as to engage the respective bevelpinions it in any desired sequence, so as to revolve the differentsections vi in predetermined sequence and give a fade-away effect indissolving one message and building up another message before the eyesofthe observer.

From the description given it will be evident that the improved sign hasallof the advantages of an ordinary billboardsign in that it iseffective both day and ni ht. It also has greater advantages than the eectric sign in that it gives animated or moving effects not only invt-he night when illuminated, but in the day as. well. It is moresatisfactory than either of these types of sign in that the componentsections can be readily removed and replaced by other sections therebypermitting the advertising matter to be changed readily with great freuency 'and at little expense. The met od proposed enables advertisingservice tobe furnished for billboard -signs through the readyreplacement in a permanent frame of one set of units with another set ofunits having different advertisingmatter thereon.

It also has the advantages of an electric MBO the Ychanging of whichwill, of course, at.

tract the eye.

So far as concerns the mechanical details it will he evident that thesections e' which are mounted in parallel relationship may he eitherdisposed vertically or horizontall It is also evident that other means,not on y mechanical but electrical as well might be employed to bringabout the es1red se quential rotation of the prismatic sections 'andpresenting them in a Hat surface over the entire sign,

tions, means to support the sections with one i set of faces lying in aplane and the proximate eet of such faces in' juxtaposition,

Meneer May, A.

means to rotate sai sections periodically in predetermined sequence withrespect to each other to bring other eet of faces into said plane, andmeans to vary the sequential rotation of said sections to produce afadeaway eect. 2. As an article of manufacture, a display unit ofprismatic form having three one o rectangular display faceseaeh whichconstitutes a component part of a complete advertising si? and carriesdisplay matter, the faces of t el unit beingy all of substantially thesame area, and means carried on the opposite endso' the unit to supportit removably in driving engagement with a shaft.

This se ification signed this 21st day of JSEPH L. RAY.

